United Arab Emirates
AE
Healthcare System
UAE operates a federated healthcare system with three distinct regulatory authorities: DHA (Dubai), DOH (Abu Dhabi), and MOH (federal/other emirates). Mandatory health insurance exists in Dubai and Abu Dhabi. UAE is a major medical tourism hub (~500,000 medical tourists/year) and uses ICD-10-AM (Australian Modification) for clinical coding — not ICD-10-CM or standard WHO ICD-10.
- System Type
- Federal multi-regulator with mandatory insurance
- Regulatory Body
- MOH (Ministry of Health & Prevention) for federal drug control. DHA for Dubai. DOH for Abu Dhabi.
- Data Protection
- UAE Personal Data Protection Law (PDPL, Federal Decree-Law No. 45 of 2021). Health data classified as Sensitive Personal Data requiring additional safeguards. Dubai International Financial Centre (DIFC) has separate Data Protection Law 2020 (GDPR-equivalent).
- Currency
- AED
- Emergency Number
- 998 (ambulance), 999 (police/emergency), 997 (civil defense)
- Languages
- ar, en
Coding Systems
diagnosis
ICD-10-AM (Australian Modification)
UAE mandates ICD-10-AM — not ICD-10-CM (US) or ICD-10 WHO base. Australian Modification with UAE-specific extensions. DHA and DOH require ICD-10-AM for claim submissions.
procedures
CPT (American Medical Association)
UAE uses CPT procedure codes directly — unlike most non-US countries which use national codes. Widely used for insurance billing across DHA and DOH jurisdictions.
dental
FDI (ISO 3950)
Federation Dentaire Internationale two-digit notation. Universally used across UAE dental practices.
drg
All Patient Refined DRG (APR-DRG)
DHA uses APR-DRG for inpatient hospital billing. DOH uses its own DRG-based system.
drugs
MOH Drug Registration (National Drug Code)
MOH Drug Control Department maintains the national formulary and drug registration database. Arabic and English brand names registered.
Translation Corridors
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